Learning to read standard music notation can be difficult. Thus an easy to read system has long been sought to make reading piano music easier. Several attempts at improved teaching methods have been proposed, yet there remains a need for a method and system that better facilitates learning how to play a keyboard instrument.
For example, US Patent Application Publication No. US 2005/0016359 Al to Berens, Pub. Date: Jan. 27, 2005, entitled “Teaching Method And Guides To Teach Piano,” teaches a guide with vertical numerically color coded lines on it. The guide can then be moved along the space between the keys and the fallboard of the piano, so that the keys can be played by anyone placing their fingers on the keys indicated by the lines on the guide. Sheet music is prepared with numbers and colors juxtaposed to the notes corresponding to the lines, so that the piano student will know which keys to stroke.
In another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,005,569 to Feidner, issued Feb. 28, 2006, entitled “Method for Imparting Music Score Reading and Keyboard Performance Skills,” discloses a method which facilitates for players the learning of music reading in the playing of keyboard instruments, which comprises the steps of providing a plurality of musical staves, musical notes, and letters of the alphabet corresponding to the musical notes; and causing the player to play sequentially pairs of musical notes by striking corresponding keys on the keyboard.
In yet another example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,982,115 issued Jul. 19, 2011 to Johnston, entitled “Music Notation System,” discloses a music notation system that uses a grid with vertical columns representing musical notes and horizontal rows representing time intervals. Each note of a musical piece is indicated by a selected note symbol in the appropriate column, and extending across multiple rows if intended to be sounded for more than one time interval. Different note symbol shapes are used to indicate different tone qualities or playing styles.
Despite the availability of various prior art teaching methods and keyboard tablatures, there remains a need for a keyboard tablature that more effectively facilitates keyboard performance training.